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for People in Cubicles
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Oh dear god, yes.
what about there/their/they’re?
what about their/there/they’re?
Yes. I need this graph everywhere there is bad grammar. I go completely nuts.
What about double posts?
Just kidding
This is so accurate for me that’s it’s SCARY! LOL!
Indeed. But you’ll need a logarithmic scale to measure the then/than problem.
I hate when people don’t use the correct “your, you’re”! It drives me crazy!!! Don’t even get me started on the incorrect uses of “their, there, they’re”! Go back to grammar school!!!
I feel justified being nitpicky, since this graph is fairly nitpicky in its own right. Isn’t the “its/it’s” issue just another form of a “plural noun with apostrophe” problem?
Does that one particular violation not rile you up as much?
It’s/its is a matter of a contraction versus a possessive. There’s no plural involved, and there’s no noun involved.
So: no.
It does me. The apostrophe here does not show possessive or plural, as it does in other cases. The apostrophe for “it’s” is used to shorten the phrase “it is.” You would say “it’s raining outside” instead of “it is raining outside.” The word “its” without the apostrophe is possessive. “Give the cat its food.” It’s very confusing to a lot of people because they’ve been taught to use the “’s” to show possessiveness: “John’s house”; “Mary’s car”; “Sarah’s dress”. The same principle used for “its” to show possessiveness is also used in the pronouns “He,” “She”, and “They”. In this case, it’s “His”, Hers,” and “Theirs,” respectively.
Grammar and language has many weird rules.
Grammar and language has many weird rules.
*Ahem.*
Grammar and language (or collectively, THEY) have many weird rules.
I was thinking the same thing.
Of course, it could be that the collective that is ‘grammar and language’ HAS many weird rules, just as one might say ‘ham and cheese IS my favorite sandwich.’
*agrees*
This graph is… so… me…..
My favorite misspelling was from a coworker, who liked to put apostrophes at the end of every plural word. She hit a new high when she realized that some words just naturally end in “s”, and ended up mailing a letter with the word, “Massachusett’s” in it.
Sweet apostrophe action, there.
–Em
I hate to see people who put “DVD’s and CD’s, TV’s” and stuff, it does actually anger me. The worst example I ever saw was where somebody used an apostrophe in the word “want”. Wan’t is not a word.
The thing is, I don’t mind if people leave them out, but people look really stupid when they use them incorrectly.
A very informative and concise comment, that was, Patrick.
Where is all the hate for misplaced commas? Your sentence fragments drive me crazy.
I’ve got your hate right here.
Some day people will realize that non-essential clauses require commas before AND AFTER them, not just before them. If I read another sentence like, “Jane, the French teacher entered the classroom” I will SCREAM.
Truly. Is it a statement or a description? Are we talking TO Jane, describing the actions of the French teacher, or is Jane the French teacher?
And while we’re at it, is Jane a teacher of French origin, or does she teach the language?
If she was of French origin, French would not be capitalized. Because then french would be describing her.
She’s a teacher of French, because no self-respecting Frenchman would name his daughter “Jane”!
What? We don’t drop the capital just because it’s naming her nationality!
yes, yes, YES!!!
Misuse of good and well irritates me to no end! My favorite t-shirt is my ‘good grammar costs nothing’ shirt.
What about split infinitives? there worser then all of them other problem’s!
Worser?
Yes. “Worser.”
I agree, Meaghan; it’s a shame that one lone, isolated mistake let g-money’s post down like that.
No, no, NO! g-money’s making a point by including several grammatical mistakes in a single sentence, y’all! Count them:
Capitalization (lack thereof)
Misuse of there/they’re
Misuse of then/than
Them/those
Plural apostrophe (other’s)
“There” gets the prize for most grammatical errors in one word. Gold star for you, g-money!
Um, someone remind me of a split infinitive. Example?
To brazenly misinterpret irony?
ROFL!
Split infinitives are neither illegal or wrong.
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutgrammar/splitinfinitives?view=uk
“Split infinitives have been the cause of much controversy among teachers and grammarians, but the notion that they are ungrammatical is simply a myth: in his famous book Modern English Usage, Henry Fowler listed them among ’superstitions’!
“Split infinitives are frequently poor style, but they are not strictly bad grammar. In the example above, to avoid the split infinitive would result either in weakness (to go boldly) or over-formality (boldly to go): either would ruin the rhythmic force and rhetorical pattern of the original. It is probably good practice to avoid split infinitives in formal writing, but clumsy attempts to avoid them simply by shuffling adverbs about can create far worse sentences.”
You know, “To go boldly…” would unsplit the infinitive, put the adverb in the correct place and not diminish the grace or impact of the statement. But, of course, the phrase is now carved irremediably in the cultural consciousness and cannot be changed. Nor would I wish it to be, since I’m a charter member.
I don’t know; “to boldly go” is iambic, whereas “to go boldly” is… spondee-trochee, I think, which has a completely different effect. Also, you could argue that splitting the infinitive is a stylistic choice of itself - it draws attention to the phrase, making it more memorable.
Oy veh. So THIS is what you do with a BA in English.
Split infinitives are, more or less, a hold-over from Latin. And, well, we like to aspire to Latin regularity when we invent grammatical proscriptions.
Infinitives in L didn’t “talk around” the point by adding ‘to,’ ‘to have,’ and whatnot to their infinitives and pastperfects, they just used conjugated the verb as such. And this is why you “shouldn’t” split infinitives in English - because you couldn’t in Latin.
Infinit: add -re to the end of a regular verb
P perf: add -isse to the end of a regular verb
I think only five people that post on the internet know the difference between the words “lose” and “loose.” I swear if I see “loose” used when the poster means “lose” one more time, I will loose [sic] my friggin mind.
A-f’ing-MEN!
Your just mad because your a looser!
Heck yes! This bothers me the most. I don’t know why. I think it is because it is obvious how each should be pronounced.
I mean, it’s understandable to accidentally mistype a word, especially when typing late at night, but you just don’t mistype extra “o”s. Grr.
You should really pick something else to get excited about. You live in a world where bad grammar is used purposely by corporations in search of a sale, musicians/lyricists/artists in search of fame, and a good part of the general populous. When slang runs this rampant, you could find something a bit more earth shattering to get worked up over.
Be glad most of the people that you meet on a daily basis can put together a proper sentence structure, let alone speak the language.
And if people didn’t worry about it, how much worse would it be?
Worry about it? Ah, you must think I mean for them not to teach it. Teaching, grading, and learning about it is essential to developing minds. I fully support it. However I am just pointing out that worrying about it, or even “stressing” about it is foolish. Especially in the modern climate.
Oddly enough as dogmatic as you people seem about simple grammar, no one has yet picked up on my using a adjective as a noun . . . hmmm. 500 points to the first to find it.
populous/populace
*hands Matthew a hyphen to put between “earth” and “shattering”…*
Ok, my better-feeling, let me showz yu it.
Maybe we thought you were too arrogant and self-absorbed to take criticism.
You may be correct in that assumption, however I would like to stress that I feel your view is a bit skewed. I personally, don’t believe that my attempt to bring sanity into a pack of grammar wolves by simply stating that you’re in the wrong environment if this causes stress, was either arrogant or self-absorbed. It was a warning if you will, that because popular culture ebbs and flows at its own will, that you in fact might find that your stress will count for naught except against yourself. Would you show concern for someone who was distressed about the way that the sun rose every morning? We can teach grammar and we can promote it, but society is looking for easier, lazier, and more outrageous.
To be quite honest, I didn’t realize that I had made the mistake above either. A grammar geek friend of mine pointed it out. Personally, I did quite poorly in grammar class!
You may be inhibiting your own efforts here. Perhaps simply letting these people, who’ve found something mutually annoying, take solace in their camaraderie for a few joyous moments, will be more effective than telling not to get worked up about it in the first place.
It’s not exactly advisable to interrupt a group’s coping method to tell them they should all just relax about the problem, especially in the name of preventing stress. Clearly you didn’t do very well in Psychology 101 either
Zippy Doodle, may I quote you? It’s so irritating when people do that, and yet so many people think it proves them to be laid-back. In fact, I think they do it to establish their superiority and emotional equilibrium. They fail. They’re just killjoys.
It is funny how worked up some people get about proving how laid-back they are.
bingo
Oh, I thought it was just a spelling mistake…
Who says that most of the people I meet, or even know, can put together a proper sentence. That assumption is clearly unproven.
Besides, I’d rather get worked up about grammar, which I can do something about, than “guilt-free diamonds,” about which I cannot. (Did I get that comma wrong? Oh noes!)
eats, shoots, and leaves
Personally, I prefer the Australian joke about the wombat. . .
“Eats, roots, shoots, and leaves”
(Just like a man)
I think you’ll like this cartoon.
http://www.angryflower.com/bobsqu.gif
Bless your little pea pickin’ heart. This is the best cartoon ever.
That is belly-laugh-out-loud, quick-who-can-I-send-this-to funny! Many, many thanx!
Because we’re all being so nit-picky here: blood pressure is a ratio of systolic over diastolic pressure, so your blood pressure levels are kind of meaningless as is.
This graph is scarily true! It pisses me off EVERYTIME I see it!!
Let us not forget
Those who can’t count syllables
When writing haiku
It’s five, seven, five
Other counts are so right out
Use your fingers, dunce!
Good job! One of my favorite art forms.
I don’t know. It /can/ be lovely, but I feel it’s less effective in the English language.
My blood pressure goes up just thinking about this. Arrrrrrrrrrgh!
This curve should be positively accelerated!
And I’d add “lay” instead of “lie” at the highest end.
Then vs. Than will make my blood pressure go off your chart!
I rank the “your/you’re” above “its/it’s” on the piss scale.
i loosed [sic] my mind awhile ago, it’s running in the field enjoying the airyness.
what about to/two/too
even though it’s usually just a to/too problem